Sapper Percy W. Cobb
Saturday 27th October 1917: News has reached Bedford that Sapper Percy
W. Cobb of the East Anglian Royal Engineers died of wounds at Lord Derby’s
Military Hospital, Warrington on 22nd October. Before the war Percy Cobb worked
as a fitter for Messrs. W. H. Allen. Following Kitchener’s call for volunteers
he joined the East Anglian Royal Engineers on 31st December 1914 and was sent
to France in the following April. He remained on active service until August
4th 1916 when he was severely wounded by shrapnel in the legs and body during
fighting in Delville Wood. He lay in the open for many hours before a stretcher
party could reach him, losing a great deal of blood. After being brought back
to England Sapper Cobb underwent ten operations, but the effects of poisoned
shrapnel left little hope for recovery. He was visited on a number of occasions
by his wife, and arrangements had been made for him to be moved to the
Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital at Bedford, but this ultimately proved
impossible.
Sapper Cobb’s funeral, which
took place at Bedford Cemetery on Saturday, was attended by a number of workmen
both from W. H. Allen’s Queen’s Engineering works and from the Grafton Works,
where his father, Mr. G. W. Cobb , is a foreman. The cortege left Sapper Cobb’s
home at 23 Brereton Road with the band of the Royal Engineers in front, and the
coffin, covered by the Union Jack, on a gun carriage pulled by six horses. The family
are well known local supporters of the Conservative party, and a brother of
Sapper Cobb has served with the Territorials since the beginning of the war.
Source:
Bedfordshire Times, 2nd November 1917
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